- Hagg Hill, Sheffield
- Length: 0.17 miles
- Avg gradient: 19% Peak gradient: 24%
- Difficulty: 4/5
- Likelihood of encountering unpleasant motor-vehicles: 1/5 (not as bad as it could be but only because they’re struggling just as much as you).
- Strava
Hagg Hill isn’t one of the headline climbs around Sheffield and the Peak District but it was my first introduction to Sheffield’s hills when I moved north in 2011. I used to struggle to get up Hagg Hill in my car, it’s even more challenging on a bike.
Hagg Hill is not a long climb at all but it is very steep and unforgiving from the start. To date, I’ve only ridden it four times and only once managed to do so without stopping. It also features as one of the climbs in the annual Magnificent 7 hill climb competition.
You need to turn onto Hagg Hill from Rivelin Road, a blind 90 degree turn, which results in you losing any speed you may have had. From there on it’s just up, up, up. It’s only real redemptive point is that there’s no hidden summit, you can see the top of the hill from the outset. Beginning at a relatively forgiving 14% you just need to drop into a low gear and grind, although you’d be wise to hold a gear in the bank for when the road peaks out at 24%, towards the end.
The gradient continues to increase as you cycle past the allotments, before there is a tiny (so small it doesn’t even register on the Strava segment) relent about 3/4 of the way up. Use that brief respite to catch your breath before tackling the final spike of 24% and reaching Bole Hill Road.
Well done, you’ve just done one of the hardest climbs in Sheffield!
Any sense of achievement, however, is slightly tempered by the fact that, if you’re heading towards Crosspool, you’ve actually only done about a third of the climbing. We’ll save Bole Hill Road / Back Lane for another time though.
Sheffield Cycling Climbs 